Pensacola Tornados

The Pensacola Tornados were a basketball team that played in Pensacola, Florida in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1985–1991.

Ted Stepien bought a CBA franchise for Toronto in 1983 after threatening to move the Cleveland Cavaliers to that city. The Toronto Tornados played in the 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons and started off the 1985–86 season in Toronto before declining attendance prompted Stepien to move the team to Pensacola mid-season. At the time, the CBA comprised fourteen teams. The newly relocated Tornados' first home game, on January 3, 1986 against the Florida Suncoast Stingers, drew 3,611 to the Pensacola Civic Center, and averaged 1,651 per game for the year. In fact, on January 25, 1986, the Tornados drew 8,417 in a win against the Detroit Spirits, at that time the second-largest crowd to ever attend a CBA contest. Guard Billy Goodwin was the only CBA player to finish in the Top-10 in both scoring and assists that season. Ronnie Williams, a power forward, averaged 23.3 points per game. Despite all this, the Tornados suffered through a 15-33 season. During the off-season, Stepien moves the team to Jacksonville, Florida and renames them the Jets. It was a turbulent off-season in general in 1986, as the CBA shrunk to twelve teams. This franchise would move three more times before folding in 1996.

The Bay State Bombardiers moved to Pensacola to become the second version of the Tornados. This version began in 1978 as the Harrisburg Hammerheads, then the Maine Lumberjacks, on to Bay State before arriving in Pensacola. The team was purchased and moved to Pensacola by the major investors, Pensacola businessman Roger MacDonald and trial attorney Bob Crongeyer as well as Eli Jacobsen of Columbus, Ohio. Other investors included Pensacolians Joe Mooney, Frank Adams, Vince Whibbs and McGuire Martin. With new Director of Basketball Operations Tim Sise and new Head Coach Gary Youmans, the Tornados showed signs of life led by Tommy Davis and former New York Knicks 7'-1" veteran center Marvin Webster who led the team in rebounds. The team finished with a 20-28 record and made the playoffs for the first time. Webster was signed by the NBA Milwaukee Bucks before the season ended when he was replaced by Center Jerome Henderson who led the Tornados in rebounding for the rest of the season. Henderson would later receive a 10-day call-up to the Atlanta Hawks. In the playoffs the Tornados were eliminated four games to one by the Rapid City (S.D.) Thrillers.

Power forward Norris Coleman, 6'-8", 210 lbs., signed with the Tornados after playing one year with the NBA [Los Angeles Clippers]. Coleman was a second-round draft pick (38th overall) of the Clippers after being named to the Big-8 All-Conference team while at Kansas State. Other key players are rookie guard Mark Wade, 5'-11", 160lbs.Tommy Davis, NBA veteran Freeman Williams, forward Bill Nelson and Jerome Henderson. By the end of the season, the Tornados were tearing up their opponents and would return the team to the playoffs with a 28-26 record. In the playoffs, Pensacola crushed the original Tornados franchise, the Mississippi Jets, now located in Biloxi, Mississippi, in a 4-1 run, but were swept by the Albany Patroons, coached by Phil Jackson, in four straight semifinal games. After the 1987–1988 season General Manager Tim Sise and Head Coach Gary Youmans left the Tornados to work with a new expansion team in Columbus, Ohio, that would become the Columbus Horizon.

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